University Colors

Bucknell's colors, Orange and Blue, were chosen in 1887 by a student committee. The committee met in the apartment of Professor and Mrs. William Martin in the Academy (now Taylor Hall). William Emmett Martin, Class of 1871, devoted a total of 51 years of service to Bucknell. Mrs. Martin, Mary E. Brown before her marriage, was a graduate of the Female Institute in 1862. After seeing the decorative silk ribbon bow of "gendarme blue and deep pumpkin orange" on the back of Mrs. Martin's rocking chair, the student committee selected those colors to represent the university. The official resolution of the faculty and students followed and the colors were approved by the board of trustees in January 1888.